Pizza shop owner pleads guilty to tax fraud

A Rochester man has pleaded guilty to charges of stealing $62,000 in sales tax from his pizza business in Farmington, Ontario County.

Daryn Sapere, 43, was charged with third-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree criminal tax fraud, the state Department of Taxation and Finance said in a news release Tuesday.

Sapere owns and operates Dario’s Famous Pizza at 1560 Route 332.

The thefts occurred from 2004 to 2011, the statement said.

“When businesses collect sales tax from their customers, then fail to pay it to the state, they steal from their customers and citizens of our state,” department commissioner Thomas Mattox said in the statement.

Sapere was arraigned in Ontario County Court. He will be sentenced Oct. 29 and could face up to seven years in state prison.